Why Source Local Food?
Support the local economy. The purchasing power of businesses has the potential to greatly strengthen other local businesses, such as farms, value-added processors, and small-scale distributors. These jobs allow for a resilient, attractive community that loops back to strengthen the economy as a whole.
Marketing opportunity for your business. Many customers are seeking out local food and choose restaurants and retail options that let them purchase local foods.
Source the best tasting food available. With all the love and creativity that goes into serving meals, start with the freshest, tastiest, and most unique, seasonal ingredients available! The Adirondacks are home to a diverse array of producers, so you can make your menu as delicious and diverse as you wish to imagine.
Show your customers you care for the environment and your community. Sourcing local allows for you to choose to support farms that prioritize issues such as environmental sustainability, humane treatment of animals, food justice, farmworker rights and many other issues. What does your business wish to say, through the power of purchasing dollars and to customers, about these issues?
Two Things to Do If You Want to Start Buying More Local Food
2. SIGN UP FOR ONE-ON-ONE SUPPORT
Other Resources for Businesses and Institutions
MEETING FOOD SAFETY REQUIREMENTS
RECIPES FOR SCHOOL KITCHENS
Stories From Other Local Farms, Businesses and Institutions
Spotlight On Local Food at the Adirondack Medical Center
Carl Bowen, Director of Food and Nutrition Services at the Adirondack Medical Center has been working hard to focus the hospital’s food offerings around locally sourced ingredients
D&D Meats Earns Competitive USDA Grant to Reduce Pressures on Local Producers
By Tim Rowland At the quiet intersection that marks the hamlet of Sciota, where the Adirondack mountains give way to the Canadian plains, Shane Dutil
Generous Acts Grant and CCE Essex Paying the Bill so Schools Can Serve More Local Food Through Pandemic Challenges
By Meghan Dohman, CCE Essex Farm to Institution Educator The Cornell Cooperative Extension of Essex County (CCE Essex) Farm to School program is an educational
Bringing High-Quality Farm-to-Table Dining to Malone, NY
Interview with Executive Chef & Operating Partner Jesse Badger at the Hearth of Malone By Mary Godnick, Adirondack Harvest Communication Coordinator at Cornell Cooperative Extension
New Creamery in the Works at Meier’s Artisan Cheese
By Tim Rowland | September 1, 2021 In Dan Meiers’ native Switzerland, land is more beautiful than it is plentiful, a fact that drove him,
The Village Meat Market: Boon for a Small Community
By Carly Summers After driving by Lake Champlain along forest-lined roads, then through the village of Willsboro in Essex County, NY, you stop at one
Photos provided by Ben Stechschulte in partnership with Essex Farm Institute, and the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism.
